Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Athletics: Whanganui athletes learn valuable lessons in competition

By Alec McNab
Columnist·Whanganui Chronicle·
16 Feb, 2022 04:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Nelson Doolan (Palmerston North) leads the 3000m from James Hercus, Elliot Jones and Toby Caro. Doolan was the event winner and Jones third, with Hercus and Caro dropping out in the final kilometre. Photo / Rob van Dort

Nelson Doolan (Palmerston North) leads the 3000m from James Hercus, Elliot Jones and Toby Caro. Doolan was the event winner and Jones third, with Hercus and Caro dropping out in the final kilometre. Photo / Rob van Dort

Although the Centre Track and Field Championships do not seem as important to athletes as in the past, they are still an important part of the summer calendar.

The first of two programmes was held in Palmerston North last week, with a second at Cooks Gardens on Tuesday evening. There is a third-week wrap-up on Tuesday next week with 300m/400m hurdles in Whanganui and steeples, hammer and javelin in Palmerston North.

Entry numbers were a little disappointing last week on a breezy evening at the Massey Community Track in Palmerston North, but were better in Whanganui on Tuesday. Perhaps with the three Lower North Island Classic meets over a fortnight in the leadup, or perhaps the fact that it was a "championship", put off some athletes.

I am always interested as heats are allocated at the Regional League to see those who want to run in the top grade and those who settle for a B or C heat. I am reminded of the Champions League semifinal in 2007 when Chelsea and Liverpool ended the two legs and extra time level, and the place in the final to be decided on penalties. I clearly remember the Liverpool players eager to be selected for the task contrasted by the Chelsea players trying to avoid eye contact with their manager. It was no surprise to me that Liverpool won the shootout.

The first winner of last week's championships had a foot in both Whanganui and Palmerston North camps. Young Juliet McKinlay, who is in her first year at Whanganui Collegiate, won both the 70m and 80m hurdles for Palmerston North.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Whanganui's first win came immediately after McKinlay's success. New Zealand Schools hurdler Maggie Jones impressed in the 100m hurdles, running into yet another headwind. Paige Cromarty should be encouraged by her personal best in second place, further backed up with another best in the 200m (27.19) for seventh in a strong field (opting to run in the A grade brought its benefits). And 400m runner Bella Willis, who had been unable to train over the previous fortnight, should be pleased with her 26.65 for fifth in a strong field in Palmerston North, with Maggie Jones just one-hundredth behind her. They were again close in Whanganui with Jones heading Willis by two one-hundredths for fourth and fifth respectively in the 100m. The 100m provided a Palmerston North trifecta with Addira Collette winning from her twin sister Chayille (12.18 and 12.20 respectively) with Kimberley Walsh third.

There are always lessons to be learned from competing. In Palmerston North, Louise Brabyn was reluctant to go with the pace set by former New Zealand representative Ellen Schaef (Palmerston North) and New Zealand under-20 mile bronze medal winner Emma Ferguson (Feilding). Ferguson won in a personal best 2:15.26 with Schaef less than a second behind. Brabyn was rewarded by a two-second best 2:20.41 for fourth, learning valuable lessons about hanging on to the early pace.

Brabyn proved to be a quick learner and stayed with the pace in Tuesday's 1500m championship at Cooks Gardens, with Ferguson again winning from Schaef (4:38.75 and 4:40.15) and Brabyn rewarded in third with a five-second best 4:42.03. Brabyn also ran a best on Saturday's Riverbank parkrun where again she demonstrated good pace judgment.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

At parkrun she was joined by teammates James Hercus and Toby Caro who had also learned valuable lessons in Palmerston North when the temptation of pizza too close to racing had its effect. Both were forced out of the 3000m race soon after the 2000m mark when on schedule for good performances. Both were more careful on Saturday morning, running on the riverbank to finish first and second with personal best times.

On Tuesday Hercus stuck with the pacemaker in the 1500m to be one of the few Whanganui winners of the evening, finishing less than a second shy of his personal best in 4:08.21. Whanganui's Travis Bayler was third (4:14.98) and 15-year-old Toby Caro set a personal best of 4:15.79 in fourth, showing clear evidence that the lessons from Palmerston North had been learned.

The Palmerston North Club impressed on Tuesday with wins in both male and female 100m championships. This double was repeated in the 400m. Palmerston North won the high jump (Amber Trow 1.58m) and the women's triple jump (Ellie Hurley Langton 9.96m).

Whanganui had success from Jacky Dai in the male triple jump (12.46m), Ana Pearce in the women's shot (9.55m) and Cody Campbell in the 4kg shot (11.85). Mark Cressingham was the leading senior thrower (8.11m). Emma Fergusson in the 1500m provided success for Nga Tawa and Feilding.

Discover more

Ex-Whanganui athletes take centre stage

09 Feb 04:00 PM

Cooking up a classic

02 Feb 04:00 PM

Five stadium records broken at crowdless Cooks Classic

31 Jan 04:00 PM
New Zealand

World Athletics honours Peter Snell and Cooks Gardens

26 Jan 08:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

11 Jul 05:02 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

10 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

Why Ruapehu voted against bigger water model

11 Jul 05:02 AM

Officials say a multi-council body would save their community $40 million.

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

10 Jul 06:00 PM
Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

10 Jul 03:15 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP